Lock-key fastener



I UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE.

JAMES B. AYER, OF MALDEN, MASSACHUSETTS.

LOCK-KEY FASTENER.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. SRAM), dated December 12, 1865.

To all whom 'it 'may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES B. AYER, of .Malden, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Safety Escutcheons for Locks 5 and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable those skilled in the art to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure l represents an escutcheon made according to my invention and applied to a door. Fig. 2 is a vertical section.

This invention has for its object the construction of an escntcheon for locks which will prevent the lock from being picked from the outside, prevent the key from being` turned from the outside by instruments applied to its heel, and will prevent persons from looking through the key-hole. V

It consists in a supplementary escutcheon, which is pivoted at its top to the ordinary escutcheon or to the lock-plate, and which has a lateral slot to receive the shank of the key, and a hinged leaf that, when raised, lies atwise upon the loop of the key, to prevent it from being turned, said leaf being, moreover, locked, when it is raised, by a sliding bolt that passes through the supplementary escutcheon into the ordinary escutcheon or into the lockplate.

A is the key of a door, seen inserted into its lock and turned with its loop atwise, as its position is when the bolt of the lock has just been driven out to secure the door.

B is a supplementary escutcheon, pivoted at C, at its upper part, to the ordinary escutcheon or to the lock-plate.

D is a slot made in the supplementary escuteheon at one side, to allow it to inclose the shank of the key.

E is a leaf hinged to the supplementary est! ll cutcheon at F, and so arranged therewith that shoulders g g on the inner end of the leaf prevent it from being raised higher than to a horizon tal position.

H is a bolt fitted in the outer surface of the hinged leaf, by means of which the leaf is kept in a horizontal position by pushing it inward through a slot, I, in the escutcheon B, whence it passes into a bolt-hole made in the ordinary escutcheon or in the lock-plate.

The operation of the apparatus is as follows: Then the door is locked the loop of the key is flat and crosswise of the key-hole. If then the hinged leaf is raised to a horizontal position and the escutcheon B swung over the key, the bolt may be pushed in, and the key is thereby held or locked, the leaf lying dat over the key, so that it cannot be turned to unlock the bolt of the lock by pliers from without, nor can it be removed or pushed from the lock to admit other keys or instruments into the keyhole. At the same time the lower part of the escutcheon B covers the key-hole, so that no one from without can look through it.

The apparatus should be made of metal, and may be ornamental in its appearance.

1t will be found very useful in hotels, steamboats, as well as in private residences, and will contribute not only to the safety but to the privacy of any apartment to which it is applied.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The supplementary escutcheon B above described, provided with a hinged leaf capable of being raised and locked in a horizontal position, the several parts being made and applied substantially as above set forth.

The above specification of my invention signed by me this 7th day of October, 1865. JAMES B. AYER. Witnesses:

H. H. HYDE, CEAS. H. RHoAnEs. 

